Album

Kevin Coyne – Carnival

Derby's foremost purveyor of wounded blues and fraught emotions on fine form

Martina Topley Bird – Quixotic

Debut album from Tricky's former partner, finessed by stellar producers

This Month In Soundtracks

Certain rarely-heard names, such as Jo Jo Gunne or Atomic Rooster, are guaranteed to induce a nostalgia rush in men of a certain age. The fact that such '70s semi-stars aren't acknowledged 'greats' makes their very mention all the more bittersweet. In a good way.

Various Artists – Flowers In The Wildwood: Women In Eearly Country Music 1923-39

Way before Emmylou Harris or even Patsy Cline, women were singing country songs to make your heart crack. Among these 25 examples from pre-WW2, only the Carter Family and Patsy Montana will be familiar to most. But just as thrilling are the Coon Creek Girls, a kind of 1930s version of the Be Good Tanyas, and Gertrude Gossett, who sounds like an early Gillian Welch. Every track is a discovery, and you wonder how the Louisiana Lou, The Girls Of The Golden West and Moonshine Kate ever lapsed into obscurity. Sleevenotes are courtesy of The Handsome Family's Rennie Sparks.

Various Artists – Magnum Opus 3

Latest volume of 20 full-length 12-inch classics from '70s and '80s

Steve Marriott – Signed Sealed

Slung-together bargain-priced selection

Various Artists – Peace Not War

Fundraiser featuring Public Enemy, Ms Dynamite and a reformed Crass

Where’s The Beef?

No Captain, but a Beefheartless supergroup assembled from various Magic line-ups

Pedro

Debut album from London-based 24-year-old

Lynryd Skynryd – Vicious Cycle

First album in four years from survivors of star-crossed Southern rock behemoth
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